Upgrading Your Smoke Alarm to Include Carbon Monoxide Detection

Upgrading your smoke alarm to include carbon monoxide detection has long been the standard in residences, commercial spaces, hotels, restaurants, airplanes, and more. Over time smoke alarms have evolved in keeping with the latest innovations in detection, to include ionization smoke alarms, photoelectric smoke alarms, hearing impaired smoke alarms, and duct smoke detectors. However, smoke isn't the only airborne danger lurking in homes, hotels, restaurants and offices. Carbon monoxide is equally dangerous.

Carbon monoxide prevents the body's absorption of oxygen, which can lead to tissue damage and in worst cases, death. Carbon monoxide detection is critical because symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning often resemble those of a common cold or flu. The presence of carbon monoxide may arrive gradually, and symptoms may be so subtle that people, who have become sickened from CO2 exposure, are often surprised to learn how or why they got sick.

There are several benefits of Smoke and Carbon Monoxide combos for business owners, homeowners, property management companies and hotel owners. First, the combination allows you to ensure safety for your family, visitors, employees and guests with just one convenient device. That cuts down on installation time and cost. These also provide you with the comfort of knowing that your business or commercial space is up to code in keeping with smoke detector and carbon monoxide regulations and laws.

Moreover, smoke and carbon monoxide combos are typically 9V or AA battery operated, though some are hardwired with a back up battery. Most utilize different alarm sounds to indicate potential dangers (i.e., the smoke alarm does not sound the same as the alert to carbon monoxide). This allows those in a building to quickly identify the source of the trouble.

Some of the smoke and carbon monoxide combos available at Westside Wholesale take alerting you to danger one step further by providing voice alerts. For example, the Kidde KN-COSM-XTR-B Dual Carbon Monoxide and Smoke Alarm offers a confusion-free voice warning—stating any present danger, clearly and concisely.

Most smoke and carbon monoxide combos come equipped with a hush silencer, an easy testing button, safeguards to prevent the installation without batteries, multi-year warranties and visual alerts signifying a low battery.